dcfandomcom-20200222-history
Adrian Veidt (Watchmen)
Retirement and Comedian's Murder In 1975, two years before vigilante crime fighters (superheroes) are banned by the "Keene Act," Veidt retired from super heroism, marketing his image for money. This helps bankroll his scheme of creating a catastrophic event and deceive the world into uniting against a common enemy, in Veidt's case, a horrific alien invasion. To that end, he employed geneticists to clone the stolen brain of a murdered psychic and use it to create such a creature with a group of artists and creative personnel to help create the illusion. He also invents a limited form of teleportation based in part on the studies of (and studies by) Dr. Manhattan. Upon completion, he arranged the murder of all of his accomplices to maintain the illusion. To prevent Dr. Manhattan from interfering, he hired old associates of the superhero and secretly exposed them to radiation to induce terminal cancer in them, then engineered a rumor that Manhattan was responsible, causing Dr. Manhattan to exile himself to Mars and thereby setting off a chain of events that threaten to start a global war. When the Comedian inadvertently learned of Veidt's plans, Veidt personally murdered him as well. The death of the Comedian caught the attention of Rorschach, who investigated the crime and mistakenly theorized that there existed a conspiracy to murder masked adventurers. Although Veidt arranged an assassination attempt on himself to throw off suspicion, he framed Rorschach on a murder charge to get him out of the way. Unknown to him, the current Nite Owl and Silk Spectre grew to believe that Rorschach's investigation had merit and sprung him from prison to investigate the matter. In addition, Dr. Manhattan took Silk Spectre to Mars where she convinced him to return to Earth. However, the superheroes were unable to stop the fulfillment of Veidt's scheme, which led to the deaths of over three million people in New York City. The world governments fell for this ruse, and agreed to a union to oppose this new alien menace. Seeing as how Veidt's plot had the desired effect of uniting the nations of the world and averting a possible nuclear war, Doctor Manhattan, Nite-Owl and Silk Spectre agree to keep silent about what they know, as it would only plunge the world back to the brink of disaster. Rorschach alone refuses to keep silent, telling Dr. Manhattan that he will never compromise, not even in the face of Armageddon, Dr. Manhattan must kill Rorschach before he can tell anybody what he knows, and does so. When Veidt asks the precognitive Dr. Manhattan for verification that he did "the right thing" and that his plans "worked out in the end," Dr. Manhattan can only reply that nothing ever ends, leaving Veidt once again in doubt as to whether or not his plan was successful. Doomsday Clock When Veidt's plan to unite the world failed after Rorshachs' journal was published, he went underground. He allied with Rorshach's successor Reginald Long to save the world, which had become chaotic after the departure of Doctor Manhattan. To that end, he had been trying to seek out Manhattan, who he believed could restore order in the world. Veidt discovered he was able to track Manhattan by following his electron trail. After rebuilding the Owl Ship to withstand quantum tunneling, Veidt was able to transport himself to the universe Manhattan had traveled to. After arriving in this mysterious new world both alike and unlike his own, Veidt sought out Lex Luthor and Bruce Wayne, the two smartest men in this world, to aid him in his journey of finding Doctor Manhattan. He then informs Luthor of his attempt to unite the world before The Comedian, somehow back from the dead and on Prime Earth, attempts to kill Veidt. Veidt and The Comedian fought, and eventually Veidt jumped out the window and collapsed on top of a car, and The Comedian escaped. Veidt was taken to the hospital and was accused as being an assassin trying to purposely kill Lex Luthor. He wakes up in the hospital, escapes, and returns to the Owl Ship after retrieving Bubastis and his costume. There, he meets Batman, who was waiting for him. He threw Batman out of the Owl Ship, onto a group of violent protesters. He picks up Johnny Thunder, Rorschach II and Saturn Girl in the Owl Ship and uses the Green Lantern and Bubastis to summon Dr. Manhattan. Manhattan reveals that he never had cancer and Veidt confesses that he lied to recruit Reggie to his cause. He also reveals that Korvacs broke Reggie's father and that he and Reggie's mother separated. After Jon leaves, Reggie beats him up. Viedt then attacks Irma and Johnny and takes them hostage. Veidt reveals that he leaked Stein's involvement in the Superman theory to Pohzar to put strain on Firestorm and that he and Bubastis caused the explosion in Russia to frame Superman and Firestorm, all in a desperate attempt to save Prime Earth and the Watchmen earth. After he realizes that Jon had undone his alterions to the timeline on Prime Earth, he remarks that he succeeded again. He also let Batman take the evidence on his ship to expose the truth of his involvement in Firestorm's explosion. Veidt is then teleported to Jon's location where he is shot by The Comedian. He is however saved from bleeding out by Long. Jon Takes him back to their universe, preventing the nuclear holocaust from ever happening. Veidt is then placed under a long house arrest at his own headquarters. His past actions lead to an orphan named Cleopatra Pak becoming obsessed with his life and she adopts Bubastis II, calling herself "Nostalgia" when she becomes 16-year old. | Powers = | Abilities = calling Ozymandias a genius]] * : Veidt is referred to as the smartest man alive. His mental performance allows his mind to operate in the most efficient and rapid manner possible. One manifestation of this is his tactical genius; the ability to quickly process multiple information streams and rapidly respond to changing tactical situations. He is capable of creating numerous technologies to counter Dr. Manhattan. When wieving a wall filled floor to ceiling with television screens, each showing a different image, he is able to pay attention to each one simultaneously. ** : Veidt also possesses an eidetic memory, meaning that he never forgets anything and has perfect recall. ** ** ** : Veidt is fluent in English, Turkish, German, Russian and various other unspecified languages. ** ** : He had been widely considered one of, if not the greatest, tacticians on the planet. He is able to create a vast billion dollar International corporation with links to legitimate and criminal organization, all with the single purpose to bring world peace via the threat of a fake alien invasion. * : Veidt is an expert in hand-to-hand combat being very skilled in multiple martial arts. He is able to hold off both Nite-Owl and Rorschach at the same time, and match The Comedian. * : His years of training and experience have made him an expert acrobat, even in his late 40s. * : Veidt is at the peak of physical ability in strength, speed, agility, reflexes and durability. His condition has allowed him to easily defeat Rorschach, Nite Owl and The Comedian in hand to hand combat, engage in acrobatics competitions in middle age and even catch a bullet fired at him, a feat that even he seemed surprised by. His abilities are such that even Rorschach is wary of facing him in combat. * : Veidt can throw stilettos with unerring accuracy and power, able to block The Comedian's gun barrel before he could shoot. * : Veidt is a remarkably gifted businessman and financial analyst. * | Weaknesses = | Equipment = | Transportation = | Weapons = * Stilettos - Ozymandias carries around golden stilettos concealed in sheaths on his gauntlets. | Notes = * Ozymandias is based on the Charlton Comics character Thunderbolt. Alan Moore had liked the idea of a character who "used the full 100% of his brain" and "had complete physical and mental control."Cooke, Jon B. "Alan Moore discusses the Charlton-Watchmen Connection". Comic Book Artist #9 * Ozymandias' name is a reference to the Greek name of Egyptian pharaoh . | Trivia = | Wikipedia = Ozymandias (comics) | Links = * Ozymandias at the Watchmen Wiki }} Category:Adventurers Category:Vegetarians